


Mischief Maker

by Milieva



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, F/M, Originally Posted on LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2007-04-27
Updated: 2007-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27641108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieva/pseuds/Milieva
Summary: The Doctor and Rose picked up a rather young stray, who causes them a bit more trouble than they originally thought.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Kudos: 2





	1. Mischief Maker

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted as a series of separate fics, but it probably works well enough as a single multi-part fic.

“That is not a toy!”

The Doctor’s voice echoed through the TARDIS. Rose rolled over and crawled out of bed. Obviously, their current stray was awake and causing mischief, and it would be best to save the Doctor from him before someone did some irreversible damage to the ship.

Growling about the sonic screwdriver not being something to chew on, the Doctor had ripped the tool out of the small hands of a toddler sitting near the open access panel. Tools were scattered about everywhere, but the only one the boy wanted was the one in the time lord’s hand.

And he was stating this with a loud high pitched shriek.

Instantly, the Doctor began to rummage in his pockets for something, anything, to quiet the baby. He muttered something about Rose being asleep but knew that reason was not going to work on a toddler.

A banana.

Perfect.

Tearing the skin open, the Doctor very nearly shoved a piece of it into the boy’s mouth. But the toddler was perfectly content once the little piece of fruit was in his hand. The Doctor took a relieved bite of the remainder and sighed. 

He looked exhausted. Rose wondered how long Colin had been awake. The Doctor hadn’t been too keen on her naming him, but Rose wasn’t going to just call him ‘the baby’ or anything like that for the time they had him. Yes, they would have to return him to his time, but it would be a while before his parents would be better, and his proper name was a bit too hard to pronounce. Colin was close, actually, and Rose rather liked the name Colin.

“I only do it for your own good, you know.” The Doctor informed him. “You could get yourself hurt. Wrong setting and a whole panel of the console could come tumbling down on you.”

Colin obviously didn’t care about logic. He was reaching his hands toward the banana. “Bah bah.”

“Right.” The Doctor broke off another piece and handed it to him.

They just looked so natural together. For all the Doctor’s ranting about her strays and that they were her responsibility, he was getting on quite well without her, and almost seeming to enjoy it at times. Here he was making faces at a little boy instead of repairing the damage of their most recent crash landing. Both were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

For all his stanch declarations of not doing ‘domestic’, he was awfully close to it. What made the scene even more ironic was the boy himself. Wild brown hair and smiling brown eyes could easily be construed as coming from the Doctor. Already, in their most recent stops, he was assumed to be theirs. 

Neither of them denied it, but then again how do you explain that you just found a baby and that you need to return him to the turn of the 204th century when you are shopping for nappies in the 22nd century? 

Colin grabbed the lapel of the Doctor’s jacket and pulled himself up, smearing banana across the fabric. He giggled at the Doctor’s mock annoyance at the mess. Laughing he turned and toddled across the console room to Rose.

“Good morning, Sleepyhead.” The Doctor chirped. He brushed at the wet spot on his jacket before he put his glasses on and slipped back under the console. “Your choice today. Where and when are we going?”

“Powell Estates. Sometime not too long after the last time we left.”

A wild brown head came back into view. “We are not going anywhere near your mother with him.”

He pointed an accusing finger at Colin.

“Come on, it’ll be weeks before we can take him back, and I have some washing to do, and…”

“No.”

Rose pulled her hair out of the grasp of little fingers and tossed it over her shoulder. She smiled sweetly at her companion.

.oOo.

The Doctor groaned inwardly as he waited for Rose. He scrubbed at a spot on the ground with the toes of his trainer. Colin was crouched beside him following a little bug. Looking down the wall to doorway to Jackie’s flat, the Doctor felt he was looking to an impending regeneration, given Jackie’s habit of jumping to conclusions.

Yeah, she’d kill him. If she really blew it out of proportion, she might attempt to castrate him first. He doubted _that_ would grow back with the impending regeneration. He sort of liked it where it was.

What was taking so long?

He heard Rose’s voice from below. Glancing over the railing he saw her wave the big blue bag at him. She could have waited until after her mother killed him—for something he didn’t do—before she went back to get that. It wasn’t like they would need to change Colin for a while anyway, and he ate what they ate, so bottles weren’t a problem.  
“  
“Well, I guess it is time for you to meet Jackie Tyler.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Bet she’ll like you.” He glanced down to the boy at his side.

But Colin was gone.

Mentally kicking himself for looking away, The Doctor frantically looked down the veranda. He was facing his next three regenerations if anything had happened to the boy. Rose would kill him for losing Colin. Jackie would kill him for upsetting Rose, and then Rose would kill him if anything happened to the boy. 

A few doors down, a little boy in a bright orange hoodie was crouched low, reaching into a cat door. Making a mental note to thank Rose for dressing him this morning, the Doctor raced toward him. 

Gathering the boy in his arms, the time lord crouched low behind him, scolding him for wandering off. “Rule one: Don't wander off."

It was the sound of nearing footsteps that caught his attention. Not the ones approaching him from behind. He knew Rose’s gait anywhere. It was the ones on the other side of the door. He knew those as well. Eyes stared desperately at the cat door. Why didn’t he realize it before? The Doctor was poised to bolt away, but the door was open before he had a chance to run.

Jackie did not look at all pleased at the scene before her.

.oOo.

Jackie Tyler looked down into two sets of brown eyes. The owner of the smaller pair smiled and reached for her, while the owner of the larger looked at her with a face of sheer terror. 

Rose rounded the corner lugging the bag with her. “What did you put in here? I only had nappies, some wipes, and a few dummies.”

The murderous glare from Jackie silenced her.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, and attempted to say something, but only succeeded to open and shut his mouth a few times. He nervously stood and picked Colin up, keeping the boy between himself and Jackie.

Hopefully, Jackie Tyler wouldn’t harm him if he held a child who could easily pass as her grandson. But he wasn’t taking any chances. He took a few steps back.

He mentally made a new rule for his traveling companions. It would be 'Rule Number Two: Don’t take in children that bear a striking resemblance to his current incarnation.’

Then again, he couldn’t think of a companion who really even followed Rule Number One.

If Rose hadn’t wandered off, they would have never found Colin in the first place.


	2. Mischief Managed

The Doctor pouted on the sofa. He had actually hoped for a bit more of a show. Jackie had calmed down quite quickly when Rose exclaimed that Colin wasn’t theirs. Jackie Tyler, he had always counted on for overreaction and a flaring temper, and yet she was currently in the kitchen making tea. It never failed, they show up, and not ten minutes later the kettle would be on. 

On the other hand, he was rather relieved that Jackie didn’t overreact quite as badly as he had imagined. He was thankful for the retention of a particular appendage he had been fearing the forced removal of just a half-hour previously. 

“Doctor?”

Rose’s voice pulled him back to the present. 

“I asked how you wanted your tea. Milk? Sugar?” She returned to the kitchen after he nodded an affirmative to both. 

It wasn’t until after she had shut the kitchen door again that she understood why Rose had come out in the first place. 

She’d been with him long enough that she knew how he took his tea. 

The door shut again, and he heard Jackie’s raised voice. She may have been sparing him from her aggression, possibly due to the little boy playing on the floor near the edge of the sofa. But that left Rose bearing the brunt of it. And he didn’t like that. Rose didn’t do anything to deserve to be shouted out. She had brought a baby home, yes. But it wasn’t her child. And if it was, why did her mother need to be so upset? It wasn’t as if she had let anything slip about Barcelona.

The Doctor wasn’t too pleased about finding out how much of a lightweight he was when it came to alcohol in this current incarnation. At least not like that. He and Rose had agreed never to speak of that night again.

What happened in Barcelona, stayed in Barcelona.

Please don’t let her have made mention of Barcelona. Jackie would really kill him then.

Running a flustered hand through his hair, which was already standing on end, the Doctor stood and made for the kitchen. Face the wolf now instead of later, yeah? Or at least save Rose from her. He just didn’t want to get slapped again. Jackie Tyler had one hell of an arm when it came to sticking him. But her temper in his regard had cooled a bit since Christmas.

Glancing back to be sure Colin was staying put, the Doctor stepped into the lion’s den. 

“I just don’t want you to do something you’ll regret, Sweetheart.” 

“I told you before, Mum. The Doctor and I aren’t like that.” Rose stared into her tea as if it held the script she should be reciting.

“What is a mother suppose to think, when her daughter is off gallivanting about the universe with some strange man, who won’t stick around one place for very long.”

Maybe it would be best if he waited in the lounge for Rose. This was a type of conversation he shouldn’t be part of.

Yes, Jackie’s voice was raised, but the tone was more of worry than anger. “I just don’t want you to get your heartbroken.”

“Some things are worth getting your heartbroken.” 

Rose bowed her head, fighting back tears. 

Just hearing his companion say those words tore something in the Doctor. He caught his breath, scratched the nape of his neck, and, against his better judgment, spoke. 

“So, Rose Tyler, you said something about tea?”

.oOo.

The only sound that could be heard at the table, aside from the slight scrape of knives and forks, was the babbling of the boy seated in the Doctor’s lap, and Colin was happily taking his fill from the Doctor’s plate. Food was smeared all around his mouth and a few greasy handprints were visible on the edge of the Doctor’s sleeves, though he didn’t seem to mind too much.

Jackie watched the Doctor cut a portion of his food into small pieces and push them to the front of his plate just within reach of the little boy in his lap. But he didn’t seem to have much of an appetite himself. Usually, she never made enough food to fill his cavernous stomach, yet today he had maybe eaten four bites and was proceeding to feed the rest to the boy.

The meal ended without a word.

The Doctor rose and went into the kitchen, returning with a damp towel that he used to wipe Colin’s face and hands. Once the boy was clean, the Doctor let out an animated growl and whisked the giggling child over his shoulder. Singing some goofy song, the two thundered out of the flat. 

Jackie watched the door close in mild surprise. “I just don’t understand him.”

Rose laughed.

“I don’t think anyone does.”


End file.
